National Weather Service confirms 5 tornadoes in Maryland during Wednesday storms (2024)

WASHINGTON — The National Weather Service confirmed Thursday night that multiple tornadoes touched down between Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia during severe weather Wednesday evening.

The National Weather Service (NWS) will continue to investigate and survey the damage but as of Thursday night they are confirming that seven tornadoes in total touched down in the three states.

The tornadoes were confirmed in the following areas by NWS:

Leesburg, Virginia

The EF-1 tornado touched down in Leesburg at 6:42 p.m. NWS says the winds peaked at 95 miles per hour. The tornado was short lived at only a minute long.

According to NWS, the tornado touched down southwest of Garriland Driver, north of Leesburg, before moving into a wooded area and leaving behind broken trees. The storm funnel then moved just south of Garriland Drive and Turning Leaf Lane, where several trees were uprooting in various directions.

No injuries or deaths were reported. The only damages mentioned in the NWS report is minor vinyl damage and window damage, and a small shelter had the plastic roof ripped off.

Central Montgomery County, Maryland

The NWS survey says a mini-supercell formed southeast of the Leesburg tornado. Funnel clouds were spotted near John Poole Middle School of the EF-1 tornado.

While the Leesburg tornado only lasted for one minute and spanned a mile, the Montgomery County tornado formed as 7:14 p.m. and moved 12 miles before ending nearly 30 minutes later, at 7:42 p.m.

The first damage was surveyed at Tudor Farm along Whites Ferry Road, however, the tornado lifted before dropping again near the 16000 block of Darnestown Road. Many trees were downed, causing some blocked roads.

The storm then moved across Seneca Creek State Park.

"Staff at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commissions (WSSC) Seneca Water Resource Recovery Facility witnessed the tornado moving west-to-east directly adjacent to the south of their facility where power lines leading to the facility were snapped causing the facility to switch to backup power," the NWS survey reads.

The storm then entered Gaithersburg. NWS says evidence left behind of the tornado was found near Gaithersburg High School.

In Old Town Gaithersburg, a large tree limb landed on top of St. Martin of Tours Church at the intersection of South Summit Avenue and South Frederick Avenue (MD-355). That was just the beginning of the damage the city would see.

"The housing development directly east of the Gaithersburg City Hall was particularly hard-hit, with seven houses being condemned from trees and branches falling onto them," the survey reads.

On Dogwood Drive, a large oak tree fell onto a home, injuring the five people inside.

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